Tuesday, 12 September 2017

Human being first, nationality second!

(Más abajo encontraras la versión en español)

When did it become normal to openly wish other people would die?

For instance, I've stumbled across far too many online comments calling for coastguards to leave
refugees to drown. I understand people being unhappy about immigration, but do
they really want these people to be killed? Would they do it
themselves? Would they then think the world was a better place?

Do they not
realise these people are human beings too, who feel pain and joy, just like them but by chance were born on the other side
of the world?

The rise of nationalism makes me feel uneasy. There seems to be
increasing division in both countries I come from as well as the rest of the
globe. Where does it leave those of us who aren't 100% of one nation? What about the many of us whose families are from different countries and of different races?

I always felt the need to explain I was half and half, but I remember my
brother saying it wasn't important to him. He was human, that was enough. It
took me a while to catch up with his wisdom. But yes, he's right, where I come
from is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

People say it all the time; how they feel proud to be from their nation.
It's odd, because it's not something you've worked to achieve. It's just chance
that you were born in whatever country you were born and to whatever
nationality parents. It makes more sense to be proud of something you've become,
or you've created or worked at.

Being from somewhere is a given. I love both my countries and culture, but
it seems clear to me that growing into the sort of human being that I can be proud of is more
important than being proud simply for being born in a certain place.

1 comment:

Emily, you are so right (and so is your brother!) I feel this so intuitively that I think it is just part of how I'm made, rather than a political opinion I have adopted. When people are unwelcoming towards refugees it baffles me. They're not 'other' to me, not alien, just people in need.